to the ancient royal burgh of Haddington. Besides
it there were the monasteries of the Franciscans and Dominicans, the
Cistercian nunnery, and the chapels of St. Martin, St. Ann, St.
Katherine, St. John, and St. Ninian. Of these establishments the only
two that now survive are St. Martin's (a very ancient chapel) and the
parish church, which deserves the name now applied to it (although
originally it seems to have been given to the vanished church of the
Franciscan monastery) on account both of its beauty and the distance at
which its lights were visible--Lucerna Laudoniae, or Lamp of Lothian. The
ancient church of Haddington was founded by David I., dedicated to the
Virgin, and by him granted in 1134 to the priory of St. Andrew. The
present structure is of later date, and from the style of the
architecture, was probably rebuilt in the first half of the fifteenth
century.[288] The church is cruciform, having choir and nave, both with
side aisles, and north and south transepts without aisles. Over the
crossing is the central tower. The choir and transepts are ruinous, and
the restored nave is used as the parish church. The tower was originally
crowned with a canopy or spire of open work similar to that of St.
Giles, Edinburgh, and King's College, Aberdeen; and large picturesque
gargoyles still break the line of the cornice on the top. Although the
edifice has been so sadly damaged, it does not appear to have suffered
at the Reformation. The town was under siege in 1548, when it was held
by the English after the battle of Pinkie, and was attacked and taken by
the Scots and their French allies. It is not unlikely that the church
suffered at that time.
PARISH CHURCHES OF THIRD OR LATE POINTED PERIOD
_Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, Perth._--The ancient city of
Perth possessed many endowed religious establishments, but the only one
that survives is the church of St. John the Baptist, from which the city
derived its title of "St. John's Town." This church, divided by walls so
as to form three separate places of worship, is still the parish church
of the town. The first church of Perth was probably connected with the
neighbouring Pictish monastery at Abernethy, and was erected by the
monks there during the Celtic period. The register of Dunfermline
contains the earliest historical mention of the church under the years
1124-1127, when it was granted by David I., with its property and
tithes, to that abbey. The churc
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